Metal and hard rock reviews

Newsted – Heavy Metal Music (The Chophouse 2013)

I remember getting into metal back in 96, and Metallica being the one first band I got heavily into, and Jason was the coolest guy in the coolest band in the world. After he left, I followed all the projects and everything he put his name to; Ozzy, Echobrain, Voivod and everything else. And now with a new band, appropriately named, Newsted.

The EP released in January, Metal, was originally planned to be one of four EPs under his own name, but the massive response, in addition to a spot on Dave Mustains Gigantour, changed all that and a full length was recorded, aptly named Heavy Metal Music.

And metal is exactly what you get, and oh yes, it is heavy. The guys cover everything from modern sounding metal (reminiscent of Lamb of God), to old school bay area thrash (think Testament and Exodus) and the ultra heavy sounds of doom. Most of the songs keeps to the simple four fours headbanging beat, and stays clear of unwanted, unnecessary and tiresome progressive elements that some of the grand old men of metal seem to cram into all their new material. Jason’s voice is, sometimes, reminiscent of Chuck Billy, and hence a lot of the songs reminds me of Testament.

Heavy Metal Music is not groundbreaking in any way. It is however a solid piece of heavy metal, and sometimes that is just what I want. The production is nice and dark, and sets a great atmosphere for serious metal. Lyrics deal with political skepticism and war and other evils in this world. Everything sounds good; guitars solos are blistering, beats are pounding, bass lines are thundering and the riffs inspires air guitar playing, what more could one ask for?

If I could make a wish, it would be that Jason and the guys saved some of their material for later releases, at almost 80 minutes running time the album is a bit long. Leave your fans wanting more is still a thing to remember.